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The Philosophy of Professionalism

Kennedy Mahone

Career and Technical Education

CATE 3103: Introduction to Professionalism

Dr. Sheri Deaton

November 17, 2022

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The concept of professionalism is broad yet simple. There are multiple different aspects

of being a professional. Using the skills of a professional in everyday life is extremely important

in every aspect of life, teaching or not. Educators can apply being a professional to their students,

co-workers, admin, parents, and their community. I personally believe being a professional

comes down to how you treat and interact with people and how you treat your work

environment.

Being a professional, to me, is respecting someone’s space, time, and beliefs, being kind

and empathic to those around you. By respecting those around you and your work environment,

you will also take into consideration your knowledge of content and your willingness to continue

to learn and grow for the betterment of those around you. “High quality of work and a high

standard of ethics” while also “believing passionately in what you do” (Roberts, RSC 2010).

Being a professional comes back to your core and who you are. What are your standards? How

do you treat those around you? What is important to you as a person, as an educator? These are

all important questions I believe we should be asking ourselves daily.

While I completely agree with the Arkansas code of ethics, I believe that advocating and

putting the student first is my main code of ethics. Abiding by all eight standards will ideally

carry this out. “The code of ethics...defines minimum standards of ethics conduct for all

educators” (DESE 2022), the Arkansas code of ethics defines the minimum that we should all be

doing. This is extremely important because we, as educators, should be going above and beyond

to advocate for our students. Educators wear many hats and they have the privilege to make a

safe environment for their students. Learning and maintaining positive relationships with admin,
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coworkers and parents are necessary in this process, but we are in the position to fight for our

students, in and out of the school day.

Reflecting on each domain, I will have to work on domain one and three the most. These

go hand and hand. I believe I could work on knowing my students better to understand how they

will best learn the learning outcomes and how that is presented to them. Often in a classroom, I

have much to offer, but depending on the grade level or classroom it is not received as well as it

could have been. I want to learn how to best educate while doing it in a fun interactive way.

Learning from my mentor teacher, I can see that planning and preparation go along with

knowing how your class will respond. Understanding how to manipulate content and fully

engaging students through trial and error will escalate me to the next level in domain 1 & 3

skills. I believe with research, trial and error, and observations I will grow in these areas of

education.
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Resources

Educator effectiveness and licensure. ADE Division of Elementary and Secondary

Education. (n.d.). Retrieved November 17, 2022, from
https://dese.ade.arkansas.gov/Offices/educator-
effectiveness/plsb-professional-ethicsdiscipline/code-of-ethics-for-arkansas-educator
s

What does it take to be professional? - viewing blog post. MyRSC. (n.d.). Retrieved
November 17, 2022, from https://my.rsc.org/blogs/7/297